DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
The following is a Final Office Action. In response to Examiner's communication of July 30, 2025, Applicant, on October 30, 2025, amended claims 1 & 11. Claims 1-20 are now pending in this application and have been rejected below.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's amendments are not sufficient to overcome the 35 USC 101 rejections set forth in the previous action. Therefore, these rejections are maintained below.
Applicant's amendments render moot the 35 USC 102 rejections set forth in the previous action. Therefore, new grounds of rejection necessitate by Applicant’s amendment are set forth below.
Response to Arguments - 35 USC § 101
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 USC 101 rejections have been fully considered, but they are now moot in view of new grounds for rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Applicant argues that the claims do not recite an abstract idea because the claims elements cannot be practically performed in the mind since, for example, one cannot practically perform in the mind to deploy sensors to track solar tables delivery/installation. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Pursuant to 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, in order to determine whether a claim is directed to an abstract idea, under Step 2A, we first (1) determine whether the claims recite limitations, individually or in combination, that fall within the enumerated subject matter groupings of abstract ideas (mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity, or mental processes), and (2) determine whether any additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, individually and as an ordered combination, integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. 84 Fed. Reg. 52, 54-55. Next, if a claim (1) recites an abstract idea and (2) does not integrate that exception into a practical application, in order to determine whether the claim recites an “inventive concept,” under Step 2B, we then determine whether any of the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, individually and in combination, are significantly more than the abstract idea itself. 84 Fed. Reg. 56.
That is, under prong 1 of Step 2A, a claim recites an abstract idea if the claim recites one or more limitations, that individually or in combination, that fall within one of the enumerated groupings of abstract ideas. While the generic sensors themselves implementing the argued feature referred to by Applicant are additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea addressed in prong 2 of Step 2A, a human can mentally track solar tables delivery/installation by observing information regarding delivery/installation.
With respect to the remainder of the claim, under prong 1 of Step 2A, claim 1, and similarly claims 2-20) recite “tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising: … track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables; collecting … on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand; … processing the collected on-site data … to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management; and relaying at least part of the collected on-site data and the edge processed data.” Claims 1-20, in view of the claim limitations, recite the abstract idea of tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising by tracking delivery and installation of solar tables, collecting data regarding solar field site, processing the collected data to generate data for tracking and managing operations of the site, and relaying the collected and processed data.
A claim recites mental processes when the claim recites concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion), wherein if the claim, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers the claim being practically performed in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then the claim is in the mental process category. 84 Fed. Reg. 52 n.14. Here, as a whole, in view of the claim limitations, but for the computer components and systems performing the claimed functions, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the recited tracking delivery and installation of solar tables, collecting data regarding solar field site, processing the collected data to generate data for tracking and managing operations of the site, and relaying the collected and processed data could all be reasonably interpreted as a human making observations of data regarding site, a human performing evaluations based on the observations and using judgement to process the data, and human outputting the collected and processed data manually and/or with a pen and paper; therefore, the claims recite a mental processes. Accordingly, since the claims recite mental processes, the claims recite an abstract idea under the first prong of Step 2A.
Applicant argues that, since the limitations containing the judicial exception as well as the additional elements in the claim besides the judicial exception need to be evaluated together to determine whether the claim integrates the judicial exception into a practical application, the limitations of claim 1 reciting “deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables ", "transmitting the collected on-site data via an on-site network, to an edge data center;" and "processing the collected on-site data at the edge data center to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management,” together with other limitations make claim 1, as a whole, related to a practical application of tracking and managing a solar field under construction. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
As noted above, under prong 2 of Step 2A, we determine whether any additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, individually and as an ordered combination, integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. 84 Fed. Reg. 52, 54-55. However, but for the generic computer components performing the functions referred to by Applicant, the recitations of “to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables” and “processing the collected on-site data … to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management” are not additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, but rather, these elements referred to by Applicant are part of and directed to the recited abstract idea addressed above under prong 1 of Step 2A because a human can make observations of data regarding site and perform evaluations based on the observations and using judgement to process the data. Under prong 2 of Step 2A, the claims only recite the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea of “[a] method … comprising: deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field,” “by the plurality of sensors,” “via an on-site network, to an edge data center,” “at the edge data center,” and “from the edge data center to a cloud” claim 1; however, individually and when viewed as an ordered combination, and pursuant to the broadest reasonable interpretation, each of the additional elements are generic computing elements recited at high level of generality implementing the abstract idea on a computer (i.e. apply it), and thus, are no more than applying the abstract idea with generic computer components, which is not sufficient to integrate an abstract idea into a practical application. Further, these elements merely generally link the abstract idea to a field of use.
Applicant argues the claims recite significantly more than the recited abstract idea because the claims recite “deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables; collecting, by the plurality of sensors, on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand; transmitting the collected on-site data via an on-site network, to an edge data center; processing the collected on-site data at the edge data center to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management” because such a combination of elements, deploying field sensors over the solar field to track at least solar table delivery and installation, collecting data, transmitting data via an on-site network to edge data center, and generating edge processed data, is not well-understood routine, or conventional, evidenced by distinction from prior art with details presented in the following argument with respect to the claim rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
As noted above, under Step 2B, we then determine whether any of the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, individually and in combination, are significantly more than the abstract idea itself. 84 Fed. Reg. 56. However, but for the generic computer components performing the functions referred to by Applicant, the recitations of “to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables,” “collecting … on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand,” and “processing the collected on-site data … to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management” are not additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, but rather, these elements referred to by Applicant are part of and directed to the recited abstract idea addressed above under prong 1 of Step 2A because a human can make observations of data regarding site and perform evaluations based on the observations and using judgement to process the data.
Under Step 2B, the claims only recite the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea of “[a] method … comprising: deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field,” “by the plurality of sensors,” “via an on-site network, to an edge data center,” “at the edge data center,” and “from the edge data center to a cloud” claim 1; however, individually and when viewed as an ordered combination, and pursuant to the broadest reasonable interpretation, each of the additional elements are generic computing elements recited at high level of generality implementing the abstract idea on a computer (i.e. apply it), and thus, are no more than applying the abstract idea with generic computer components, which is not sufficient to amount to significantly more than an abstract idea. MPEP 21006.05(f).
Response to Arguments - Prior Art
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art rejections have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive and now moot in view of new grounds for rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Applicant argues that Trivedi does not teach a method for tracking and managing a solar field under construction. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
While, for the reason detailed in the paragraph below, Trivedi, et al. (US 20220358434 A1), hereinafter Trivedi, does indeed anticipate a method for tracking and managing a solar field under construction, Applicant’s arguments rely on language solely recited in preamble recitations in claim 1, and similarly claim 11. When reading the preamble in the context of the entire claim, the recitation “for tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising” is not limiting because the body of the claim describes a complete invention and the language recited solely in the preamble does not provide any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention’s limitations. Thus, the preamble of the claim(s) is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction. See Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 182 F.3d 1298, 1305, 51 USPQ2d 1161, 1165 (Fed. Cir. 1999). See MPEP § 2111.02.
Similarly, the recitation of “for tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising” is a recitation of intended use, and a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. Here, the cited prior art is capable of performing the intended use of for tracking and managing a solar field under construction, and thus, the cited references are not patentably distinguishable from the claimed invention.
Nonetheless, as noted above, Trivedi does indeed anticipate a method for tracking and managing a solar field under construction in paragraphs [0005], [0012], wherein Trivedi discloses a method that includes a receiving an extension request of an onboarding of an asset, [0107], [0125], wherein an industrial plant, facility, buildings, warehouses, real estate facilities, or any other type of entity and/or the like contains the assets, and [0214], wherein the one or more assets is a solar panel asset. Here, by disclosing a method that includes receiving a request an extension request to deploy an asset, such as a solar panel, to an industrial plant, building, or real estate, Trivedi does indeed anticipate a method for tracking and managing a solar field under construction.
Applicant’s remaining arguments with respect to the prior art rejections regarding the amended portions of the claims have been fully considered, but they are now moot in view of new grounds for rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims (claim 1, and similarly claims 2-20) recite “tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising: … track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables; collecting … on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand; … processing the collected on-site data … to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management; and relaying at least part of the collected on-site data and the edge processed data.” Claims 1-20, in view of the claim limitations, recite the abstract idea of tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising by tracking delivery and installation of solar tables, collecting data regarding solar field site, processing the collected data to generate data for tracking and managing operations of the site, and relaying the collected and processed data.
As a whole, in view of the claim limitations, but for the computer components and systems performing the claimed functions, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the recited tracking delivery and installation of solar tables, collecting data regarding solar field site, processing the collected data to generate data for tracking and managing operations of the site, and relaying the collected and processed data could all be reasonably interpreted as a human making observations of data regarding site, a human performing evaluations based on the observations and using judgement to process the data, and human outputting the collected and processed data manually and/or with a pen and paper; therefore, the claims recite a mental processes. Further, with respect to the dependent claims, aside from the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea addressed below under the second prong of Step 2A and 2B, the limitations of dependent claims 2-10 & 12-20, recite similar further abstract limitations to those discussed above that narrow the abstract idea recited in the independent claims because, aside from the generic computer components and systems performing the claimed functions the limitations of claims recite mental processes that can be practically performed mentally by observing, evaluating, and judging information mentally and/or with a pen and paper. Accordingly, since the claims recite mental processes, the claims recite an abstract idea under the first prong of Step 2A.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application under the second prong of Step 2A. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea of “[a] method … comprising: deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field,” “by the plurality of sensors,” “via an on-site network, to an edge data center,” “at the edge data center,” and “from the edge data center to a cloud” claim 1, “the plurality of field sensors comprise one or more of: one or more Internet of things (IoT) devices; one or more Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that are attached to equipment, materials, or personals within the solar field; one or more GPS sensors; one or more cameras; and one or more microphones” in claims 2 and 12, “the on-site network is a mesh network” in claims 3 and 12, “digital command center to perform edge computing” in claims 5 and 15, “at an analytics and inference engine in the cloud” in claim 7, “digital twin” in claims 8, 9, 18, and 19, “via a web app, a mobile app, and/or data streams” in claims 10 and 20, and “[a] system … comprising: an edge data center,” “via an on-site network,” “a plurality of field sensors deployed over the solar field,” “the edge data center processes,” “a cloud storage in a cloud,” and “an analytics and inference engine in the cloud” in claim 11; however, individually and when viewed as an ordered combination, and pursuant to the broadest reasonable interpretation, each of the additional elements are computing elements recited at high level of generality implementing the abstract idea on a computer (i.e. apply it), and thus, are no more than applying the abstract idea with generic computer components. Further, these elements merely generally link the abstract idea to a field of use. Moreover, aside from the aforementioned additional elements, the remaining elements of dependent claims 2-10 & 12-20 do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because these claims merely recite further limitations that provide no more than simply narrowing the recited abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under Step 2B. As noted above, the aforementioned additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, as an order combination, are no more than mere instructions to implement the idea using generic computer components (i.e. apply it), and further, generally link the abstract idea to a field of use, which is not sufficient to amount to significantly more than an abstract idea; therefore, the additional elements are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than an abstract idea. Additionally, these recitations as an ordered combination, simply append the abstract idea to recitations of generic computer structure performing generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine, and conventional in the field as evinced by Applicant’s Specification at [0054] (describing the embodiments of the present disclosure includes non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium that has computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations that may be may be of the kind known or available to those having skill in the relevant arts, wherein example tangible computer-readable media include, for example: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CDs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store or to store and execute program code, such as ASICs, PLDs, flash memory devices, other non-volatile memory devices (such as 3D XPoint-based devices), and ROM and RAM devices, and examples of computer code include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter), which describes the computer components with well-known and commercially available components at such a high level of generality, that the specification does not support the components being anything beyond well-understood, routine, and conventional embodiments. Furthermore, as an ordered combination, these elements amount to generic computer components performing repetitive calculations, receiving or transmitting data over a network, electronic record keeping, storing and retrieving information in memory, and presenting offers, which, as held by the courts, are well-understood, routine, and conventional. See MPEP 2106.05(d); July 2015 Update, p. 7. In addition, as noted above, with respect to the receive from a network or networked database and create a database entry, while parts of these limitations are themselves abstract, when analyzed as additional elements beyond the abstract idea, these elements are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than an abstract idea because they also perform data gathering operations, which is insignificant extrasolution activity. Moreover, aside from the aforementioned additional elements, the remaining elements of dependent claims 2-10 & 12-20 do not transform the recited abstract idea into a patent eligible invention because these claims merely recite further limitations that provide no more than simply narrowing the recited abstract idea.
Looking at these limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing additional that is sufficient to amount to significantly more than the recited abstract idea because they simply provide instructions to use a generic arrangement of generic computer components and recitations of generic computer structure that perform well-understood, routine, and conventional computer functions that are used to “apply” the recited abstract idea. Thus, the elements of the claims, considered both individually and as an ordered combination, are not sufficient to ensure that the claims as a whole amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Since there are no limitations in these claims that transform the exception into a patent eligible application such that these claims amount to significantly more than the exception itself, claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 2, 5-12, & 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Trivedi, et al. (US 20220358434 A1), hereinafter Trivedi, in view of Brulo, et al. (US 20240030863 A1), hereinafter Brulo.
Regarding claim 1, Trivedi discloses a method for tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising ([0005]):
deploying ([0005], [0012], a method includes a receiving an extension request comprising an indication of an onboarding of an asset) a plurality of field sensors over the solar field … ([0107], an industrial plant, building and/or the like contains a vast amount of assets and an associated automation system for the assets can be complex and may comprise tens of thousands of data points of sensors to process time-series data of the assets in order to diagnose various conditions of the asset system, [0214], in an example interface to identify one or more assets, a table 1012 that lists a plurality of rows, each associated with a solar panel asset, [0125], one or more enterprises 160a-160n each including one or more edge devices 161a-161n, wherein herein, enterprises 160a-160n represent any type of entity, facility, such as, buildings, plants, warehouses, real estate facilities, or any other type of entity, facility);
collecting, by the plurality of sensors, on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand ([0012], [0020], the method comprises determining of the output data including accessing real-time data associated with the asset [0126], the edge devices 161a-161n can be IOT devices that include assets, sensors, and/or any other devices that are connected to the network 110 for collecting and sending information);
transmitting the collected on-site data via an on-site network, to an edge data center ([0127]-[0128], edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more communication interfaces for communicating with the edge devices 161a-161n, wherein the edge gateways 162a-162n also include a processor and memory for storing and executing program instructions to facilitate data processing, and in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data);
processing the collected on-site data at the edge data center to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management ([0128], in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data prior to sending the data to the cloud 105, and accordingly, in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more software modules or components for providing data processing services and/or other services or methods of the present disclosure, wherein each edge gateway 162a-162n includes edge services 165a-165n that include hardware and software components for processing the data from the edge devices 161a-161n); and
relaying at least part of the collected on-site data and the edge processed data from the edge data center to a cloud ([0127]-[0128], the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more communication interfaces for communicating with the cloud 105 via network 110, and in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data prior to sending the data to the cloud 105, [0121], [0124]-[0125], the cloud 105 includes one or more computer systems 120 that form a so-called “Internet-of-Things” or “IoT” platform 125, which receive data from components of the edge 115 via network 110, wherein the edge 115 includes one or more enterprises 160a-160n each including one or more edge devices 161a-161n and one or more edge gateways 162a-162n).
While Trivedi discloses deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction … ;
collecting, by the plurality of sensors, on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand (as above), Trivedi does not appear to necessarily disclose the remaining elements of the following limitations, which however, are taught by further teachings in Brulo.
Brulo teaches deploying a plurality of field sensors ([0118], cloud computing system 110 may obtain output data (e.g., sensor data, GPS data, etc.) from any of the transportation vehicles 20, the unloading machinery 18, and the installation vehicles 22 to orchestrate control, [0167], [0170], [0183], an Autonomous Working Vehicle (AWV) 700 representing the installation vehicle 22 to facilitate installation of the solar panel 16 includes the sensors 712 may include at least one of cameras, proximity and position sensors, location devices (e.g., GPS) to track a position of the AWV 700 (GPS, XYZ, grid), position of an object in the surrounding environment (e.g., solar panels 16), [0231], [0233]-[0234], an Autonomous Delivery Vehicle (ADV) 2800 representing the transportation vehicle 20 includes a tracking device 2805 to provide location information (e.g., GPS coordinate, vehicle bearings, vehicle positional metrics) from the sensors 2810) over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables ([0339], [0342], [0334], [0347]-[0348], fig. 94, the ADV 5005 determined to be closet to a loading site arrives at the loading dock to receive the solar panels, transmits a signal, to the solar field management 5102 including the location and/or the position of the ADV 5005, is loaded with the solar panels, arrives at the install site, and communicates to the solar field management 5102 that they are ready to install solar panels, [0364], fig. 95, solar panel management 5012 monitor the amount of solar panels 16 present on the ADV 5005 (e.g., using one or more sensors) and determine if the ADV 5005 has another solar panel 16 ready for installation) assembled in one or more centralized factories ([0362], information associated with installation of the piece of equipment includes model number and manufacturer of the given solar panel, [0113]-[0114], in a process of shipping, transportation, and installation of solar panels at a field, e.g., a solar farm, transports a shipping container having solar panels to an unloading site at a field or area of land where a solar farm (step 32)) and installation of the solar tables ([0359], [0361], process 5400 includes moving the solar panel 16 to an install location e.g., the ARA 5015 may move from the location proximate to the ADV 5005 (e.g., the initial location of the solar panel 16) to a location of the install site (e.g., a clamp location for the given solar panel), and using one or more sensors (e.g., a camera), the ARA 5015 may confirm that the solar panel 16 has been successfully released, [0366], when the ARA 5015 reaches the installation position, the ARA 5015 places the solar panel 16 in the installation position);
collecting, by the plurality of sensors, on-site data in real-time, periodically, or on demand (0231], [0233]-[0234], an Autonomous Delivery Vehicle (ADV) 2800 representing the transportation vehicle 20 includes a tracking device 2805 to provide location information (e.g., GPS coordinate, vehicle bearings, vehicle positional metrics) from the sensors 2810, [0339], [0342], [0334], [0347]-[0348], fig. 94, the ADV 5005 determined to be closet to a loading site arrives at the loading dock to receive the solar panels, transmits a signal, to the solar field management 5102 including the location and/or the position of the ADV 5005, is loaded with the solar panels, arrives at the install site, and communicates to the solar field management 5102 that they are ready to install solar panels, [0364], fig. 95, solar panel management 5012 monitor the amount of solar panels 16 present on the ADV 5005 (e.g., using one or more sensors, such as a camera or scale) and determine if the ADV 5005 has another solar panel 16 ready for installation, [0167], [0170], [0183], an Autonomous Working Vehicle (AWV) 700 includes the sensors 712 may include at least one of cameras, proximity sensors, tracking devices, position sensors, gyroscopes, location devices (e.g., a GPS) to track a position of the AWV 700 (GPS, XYZ, grid), a position of a specific component of the AWV 700, or a position of an object in the surrounding environment (e.g., solar panels 16), [0359], [0361], process 5400 includes moving the solar panel 16 to an install location e.g., the ARA 5015 may move from the location proximate to the ADV 5005 (e.g., the initial location of the solar panel 16) to a location of the install site (e.g., a clamp location for the given solar panel), and using one or more sensors (e.g., a camera), the ARA 5015 may confirm that the solar panel 16 has been successfully released, [0366], when the ARA 5015 reaches the installation position, the ARA 5015 places the solar panel 16 in the installation position).
Trivedi and Brulo are analogous fields of invention because both address the problem of tracking sensor data regarding assets including solar panels. At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the system of Trivedi the ability to deploy a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables, as taught by Brulo, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the combination would produce the predictable results of deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Trivedi with the aforementioned teachings of Brulo in order to produce the added benefit of orchestrating control of installation of solar panels using control data. [0118].
Regarding claim 2, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 1 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses wherein the plurality of field sensors comprise one or more of: one or more Internet of things (IoT) devices; one or more Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that are attached to equipment, materials, or personals within the solar field; one or more GPS sensors; one or more cameras; and one or more microphones ([0126], edge devices 161a-161n are “IoT devices” which include assets, sensors, cameras, and/or any other devices that are connected to the network 110 for collecting and sending information).
Regarding claim 5, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 1 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses wherein the edge data center is a digital command center to perform edge computing ([0128], in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data prior to sending the data to the cloud 105, and accordingly, in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more software modules or components for providing data processing services and/or other services or methods of the present disclosure, wherein each edge gateway 162a-162n includes edge services 165a-165n that include hardware and software components for processing the data from the edge devices 161a-161n, [0121], [0124]-[0125], the cloud 105 includes one or more computer systems 120 that form a so-called “Internet-of-Things” or “IoT” platform 125) related to safety task ([0106], [0129], the IoT platform is an extensible platform that is portable for deployment in any cloud or data center environment for providing an enterprise-wide, top to bottom view, displaying the status of safety).
Regarding claim 6, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 1 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses wherein processing the collected on-site data at the edge data center comprises data aggregation, data compression, or data encryption ([0126]-[0128], edge devices 161a-161n represent any of a variety of different types of devices, wherein the edge gateways 162a-162n include devices for facilitating communication between the edge devices 161a-161n and the cloud 105 via network 110, and the edge gateways 162a-162n also include a processor and memory for storing and executing program instructions to facilitate data processing, wherein the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data prior to sending the data to the cloud 105).
Regarding claim 7, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 1 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses further comprising: processing, through data pipelines at an analytics and inference engine in the cloud, at least part of the collected on-site data and the edge processed data to generate insights ([0106], [0129], IoT platform 120 provides an enterprise-wide, top to bottom view, displaying the status of processes, assets, and supports end-to-end capability to execute digital twins against process data and to translate the output into actionable insights, [0130], [0138], the framework 200 of the IoT platform 125 comprises a number of layers including a data pipeline layer 215, wherein the data pipeline layer 215 includes one or more components for data cleansing/enriching, data transformation, data calculations/aggregations, and e.g., cleansed data is run through enterprise-specific digital twins, which can include a reliability advisor containing process models to determine the current operation and the fault models to trigger any early detection and determine an appropriate resolution, optimization advisor that integrates real-time economic data with real-time process data, selects the right feed for a process, and determines optimal process conditions and product yields, [0143], the digital twin architecture of the IoT platform 125 can use a variety of modeling techniques can include, e.g., rigorous models, fault detection and diagnostics (FDD), descriptive models, predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance, process optimization, and/or any other modeling technique); and dispatching, in real-time or predetermined intervals, insights to one or more users ([0110]-[0111], [0117], a foundation application leverages cloud-based services of an Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform enables visibility of performance metrics at asset site-level (e.g., a particular building, warehouse, etc.) as well as across all asset sites for the particular enterprise, wherein a visualization is provided at an electronic interface of the foundation application, wherein the visualization is a dashboard visualization that includes a plurality of widgets associated with a predefined core service for providing data insights for one or more assets and comprise a visualization of real-time data associated with the one or more assets).
Regarding claim 8, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 7 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses wherein the analytics and inference engine accesses past and current project data and leverages a digital twin to generate the insights [0130], [0138], the framework 200 of the IoT platform 125 comprises a number of layers including a data pipeline layer 215, wherein the data pipeline layer 215 includes one or more components for data cleansing/enriching, and e.g., cleansed data is run through enterprise-specific digital twins, which can include a reliability advisor containing process models to determine the current operation and the fault models to trigger any early detection and determine an appropriate resolution, [0143], the digital twin architecture of the IoT platform 125 can use a variety of modeling techniques can include, e.g., rigorous models, fault detection and diagnostics (FDD), descriptive models, predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance, process optimization, and/or any other modeling technique).
Regarding claim 9, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 8 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses wherein the digital twin is a data model of the solar field under construction, the digital twin comprises dynamic status information for the solar field ([0214], in an example interface to identify one or more assets and/or related data includes a plurality of rows associated with a particular identified asset 1020, 1021, 1022, and 1023, with each row associated with a solar panel asset, [0130], [0138], the framework 200 of the IoT platform 125 comprises a number of layers including a data pipeline layer 215, wherein the data pipeline layer 215 includes one or more components for data cleansing/enriching, data transformation, data calculations/aggregations, and e.g., cleansed data is run through enterprise-specific digital twins, which can include a reliability advisor containing process models to determine the current operation and the fault models to trigger any early detection and determine an appropriate resolution, optimization advisor that integrates real-time economic data with real-time process data, selects the right feed for a process, and determines optimal process conditions and product yields, [0143], the digital twin architecture of the IoT platform 125 can use a variety of modeling techniques can include, e.g., rigorous models, fault detection and diagnostics (FDD), descriptive models, predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance, process optimization, and/or any other modeling technique).
Regarding claim 10, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 7 (as above). Further, Trivedi discloses wherein the insights are dispatched via a web app, a mobile app, and/or data streams ([0110]-[0111], [0117], a foundation application leverages cloud-based services of an Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform enables visibility of performance metrics at asset site-level (e.g., a particular building, warehouse, etc.) as well as across all asset sites for the particular enterprise, wherein a visualization is provided at an electronic interface of the foundation application, wherein the visualization is a dashboard visualization that includes a plurality of widgets associated with a predefined core service for providing data insights for one or more assets and comprise a visualization of real-time data associated with the one or more assets, [0151], those skilled in the art will appreciate the present disclosure can be practiced with computer system configurations, including: Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including personal digital assistants (“PDAs”)), wearable computers, mobile phones).
Regarding claim 11, Trivedi discloses a system for tracking and managing a solar field under construction comprising ([0005], [0041], [0150]):
an edge data center that receives, via an on-site network, on-site data ([0127]-[0128], edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more communication interfaces for communicating with the edge devices 161a-161n, wherein the edge gateways 162a-162n also include a processor and memory for storing and executing program instructions to facilitate data processing, and in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data) collected by a plurality of field sensors ([0107], an industrial plant, building and/or the like contains a vast amount of assets and an associated automation system for the assets can be complex and may comprise tens of thousands of data points of sensors to process time-series data of the assets in order to diagnose various conditions of the asset system, [0125]-[0126], one or more enterprises 160a-160n each including one or more edge devices 161a-161n, wherein herein, enterprises 160a-160n represent any type of entity, facility, such as, buildings, plants, warehouses, real estate facilities, or any other type of entity, facility, and/or entity that includes any number of local devices, and the edge devices 161a-161n can be IOT devices that include assets, sensors, and/or any other devices that are connected to the network 110 for collecting and sending information) deployed over the solar field … ([0005], [0012], [0020], a method includes a receiving an extension request comprising an indication of an onboarding of an asset, and the method comprises determining of the output data including accessing real-time data associated with the asset, [0214], in an example interface to identify one or more assets and/or data related to one or more assets at a particular asset site includes a table 1012 that lists a plurality of rows, each associated with a particular identified asset 1020, 1021, 1022, and 1023, with each row associated with a solar panel asset), the edge data center processes the collected data to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management ([0128], in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data prior to sending the data to the cloud 105, and accordingly, in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more software modules or components for providing data processing services and/or other services or methods of the present disclosure, wherein each edge gateway 162a-162n includes edge services 165a-165n that include hardware and software components for processing the data from the edge devices 161a-161n);
a cloud storage ([0121], [0130], [0146], the components of the cloud 105 include one or more computer systems 120 that form a so-called “Internet-of-Things” or “IoT” platform 125, wherein the “IoT” platform 125 includes a data insight layer 220 that includes one or more components for time series databases (TDSB), relational/document databases, etc., and when raw data is received at the IoT platform 125, the raw data can be stored as time series tags or events) in a cloud that receives at least part of the collected on-site data and the edge processed data for data storage ([0127]-[0128], the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more communication interfaces for communicating with the cloud 105 via network 110, and in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data prior to sending the data to the cloud 105, [0121], [0124]-[0125], the cloud 105 includes one or more computer systems 120 that form a so-called “Internet-of-Things” or “IoT” platform 125, which receive data from components of the edge 115 via network 110, wherein the edge 115 includes one or more enterprises 160a-160n each including one or more edge devices 161a-161n and one or more edge gateways 162a-162n); and
an analytics and inference engine in the cloud, the analytics and inference engine processes at least part of the collected data and processed data to generate insights ([0106], [0129], IoT platform 120 provides an enterprise-wide, top to bottom view, displaying the status of processes, assets, and supports end-to-end capability to execute digital twins against process data and to translate the output into actionable insights, [0130], [0138], the framework 200 of the IoT platform 125 comprises a number of layers including a data pipeline layer 215, wherein the data pipeline layer 215 includes one or more components for data cleansing/enriching, data transformation, data calculations/aggregations, and e.g., cleansed data is run through enterprise-specific digital twins, which can include a reliability advisor containing process models to determine the current operation and the fault models to trigger any early detection and determine an appropriate resolution, optimization advisor that integrates real-time economic data with real-time process data, selects the right feed for a process, and determines optimal process conditions and product yields, [0143], the digital twin architecture of the IoT platform 125 can use a variety of modeling techniques can include, e.g., rigorous models, fault detection and diagnostics (FDD), descriptive models, predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance, process optimization, and/or any other modeling technique).
While Trivedi discloses an edge data center that receives, via an on-site network, on-site data collected by a plurality of field sensors deployed over the solar field …, the edge data center processes the collected data to generate edge processed data for operations tracking and management (as above), Trivedi does not appear to necessarily disclose the remaining elements of the following limitations, which however, are taught by further teachings in Brulo.
Brulo teaches on-site data collected by a plurality of field sensors deployed ([0118], cloud computing system 110 may obtain output data (e.g., sensor data, GPS data, etc.) from any of the transportation vehicles 20, the unloading machinery 18, and the installation vehicles 22 to orchestrate control, [0167], [0170], [0183], an Autonomous Working Vehicle (AWV) 700 representing the installation vehicle 22 to facilitate installation of the solar panel 16 includes the sensors 712 may include at least one of cameras, proximity and position sensors, location devices (e.g., GPS) to track a position of the AWV 700 (GPS, XYZ, grid), position of an object in the surrounding environment (e.g., solar panels 16), [0231], [0233]-[0234], an Autonomous Delivery Vehicle (ADV) 2800 representing the transportation vehicle 20 includes a tracking device 2805 to provide location information (e.g., GPS coordinate, vehicle bearings, vehicle positional metrics) from the sensors 2810) over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables ([0339], [0342], [0334], [0347]-[0348], fig. 94, the ADV 5005 determined to be closet to a loading site arrives at the loading dock to receive the solar panels, transmits a signal, to the solar field management 5102 including the location and/or the position of the ADV 5005, is loaded with the solar panels, arrives at the install site, and communicates to the solar field management 5102 that they are ready to install solar panels, [0364], fig. 95, solar panel management 5012 monitor the amount of solar panels 16 present on the ADV 5005 (e.g., using one or more sensors) and determine if the ADV 5005 has another solar panel 16 ready for installation) assembled in one or more centralized factories ([0362], information associated with installation of the piece of equipment includes model number and manufacturer of the given solar panel, [0113]-[0114], in a process of shipping, transportation, and installation of solar panels at a field, e.g., a solar farm, transports a shipping container having solar panels to an unloading site at a field or area of land where a solar farm (step 32)) and installation of the solar tables ([0359], [0361], process 5400 includes moving the solar panel 16 to an install location e.g., the ARA 5015 may move from the location proximate to the ADV 5005 (e.g., the initial location of the solar panel 16) to a location of the install site (e.g., a clamp location for the given solar panel), and using one or more sensors (e.g., a camera), the ARA 5015 may confirm that the solar panel 16 has been successfully released, [0366], when the ARA 5015 reaches the installation position, the ARA 5015 places the solar panel 16 in the installation position).
Trivedi and Brulo are analogous fields of invention because both address the problem of tracking sensor data regarding assets including solar panels. At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the system of Trivedi the ability to deploy a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables, as taught by Brulo, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the combination would produce the predictable results of deploying a plurality of field sensors over the solar field under construction to track at least delivery of solar tables assembled in one or more centralized factories and installation of the solar tables. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Trivedi with the aforementioned teachings of Brulo in order to produce the added benefit of orchestrating control of installation of solar panels using control data. [0118].
Regarding claims 12 & 15-20, these claims are substantially similar to claims 2 & 5-10, respectively, and are, therefore, rejected on the same basis as claims 2 & 5-10. While claims 12 & 15-20 are directed toward a system, Trivedi discloses a system as claimed. [0041], [0150].
Claims 3, 4, 13, & 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Trivedi, et al. (US 20220358434 A1), hereinafter Trivedi, in view of Brulo, et al. (US 20240030863 A1), hereinafter Brulo, in further view of Cooner (US 20200027096 A1), hereinafter Cooner.
Regarding claim 3, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 1 (as above). Further, while Trivedi discloses all of the above, including wherein the on-site network is a … network ([0127], edge gateways 162a-162n include devices for facilitating communication between the edge devices 161a-161n and the cloud 105 via network 110. For example, the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more communication interfaces for communicating with the edge devices 161a-161n and for communicating with the cloud 105 via network 110. According to various embodiments, the communication interfaces of the edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more cellular radios, Bluetooth, WiFi, near-field communication radios, Ethernet, or other appropriate communication devices for transmitting and receiving information), Trivedi does not expressly disclose the remaining elements of the following limitation, which however, is taught by Cooner.
Cooner teaches wherein the on-site network is a mesh network ([0320], the “Edge” is the “Internet of Things” (IoT for short) front-line capturing raw data used by the rest of the IoT system captured by embedding sensors, data can then be passed to a “Router” and/or “Gateway” that can provide some basic data analytics (parsing raw data), wherein “Routers” can be thought of as local grid or mesh networks whereby implementations such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, WiFi, ANT, OpenWare, LoRa, Sigfox, or other short to mid range wireless transmissions are used to communicate between Sensor Devices and Gateways).
Trivedi and Cooner are analogous fields of invention because both address the problem of transmitting IoT data, including sensor data, regarding assets, including solar panels. At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the system of Trivedi the ability for the on-site network to be a mesh network, as taught by Cooner, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the combination would produce the predictable results of the on-site network being a mesh network. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Trivedi with the aforementioned teachings of Cooner in order to produce the added benefit of improving incident management and emergency response coordination, operational efficiencies, quality of service, up-times and reduce costs of operation in all infrastructure related areas. [0025], [0132].
Regarding claim 4, the combined teachings of Trivedi and Brulo teaches the method of claim 1 (as above). Further, while Trivedi discloses all of the above, including wherein the collected on-site data is transmitted to the edge data center ([0127]-[0128], edge gateways 162a-162n include one or more communication interfaces for communicating with the edge devices 161a-161n, wherein the edge gateways 162a-162n also include a processor and memory for storing and executing program instructions to facilitate data processing, and in one or more embodiments, the edge gateways 162a-162n are configured to receive data from the edge devices 161a-161n and process the data), Trivedi does not expressly disclose the remaining elements of the following limitation, which however, is taught by Cooner.
Cooner teaches wherein the collected on-site data is transmitted to the edge data center in a standardized format ([0024], [0364], the Internet of things creates an opportunity to measure, collect and analyze an ever-increasing variety of behavioral statistics, wherein the “Edge” tier of an IoT architecture should consider using an application tier protocol for communicating with servers in an IoT Platform via a standard such as IoTivity from the Open Connectivity Foundation, the AllJoyn Framework from the AllSeen Alliance, or any other IoT specific protocol for application architecture, and such protocols will allow for Sensor Devices to be registered with an IoT Platform and then have them communicate one way or bi-directionally with the IoT Platform during operation).
Trivedi and Cooner are analogous fields of invention because both address the problem of transmitting IoT data, including sensor data, regarding assets, including solar panels. At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the system of Trivedi the ability for the collected on-site data to be transmitted to the edge data center in a standardized format, as taught by Cooner, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the combination would produce the predictable results of the collected on-site data being transmitted to the edge data center in a standardized format. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Trivedi with the aforementioned teachings of Cooner in order to produce the added benefit of improving incident management and emergency response coordination, operational efficiencies, quality of service, up-times and reduce costs of operation in all infrastructure related areas. [0025], [0132].
Regarding claims 13 & 14, these claims are substantially similar to claims 3 & 4, respectively, and are, therefore, rejected on the same basis as claims 3 & 4. While claims 13 & 14 are directed toward a system, Trivedi discloses a system as claimed. [0041], [0150].
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Asmari, et al. (US 20240190009 A1) disclosing systems and methods for installing solar panels that includes a central controller to receive sensor data from the one or more sensors of the sensor arrays including GPS modules, of panel delivery carrying/delivery robots and panel setting/placement robots. Abstract, [0069], [0072].
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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CHARLES GUILIANO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3623
/CHARLES GUILIANO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3623
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